"As long as there is breath in me, that long I will persist." Og Mandino

Eyes of Summer Ice

My trading for the day complete, that night I found myself on a night road between towns, journeying on despite the salacious female entreaties to stay and spend more money on excesses. I left too late, now regretting the rejection of their invitation.

I could either camp or keep moving; unfamiliar with the land, and being armed, I decided to keep going.

The twin crescent moons were poor companions for light, but better than darkness.

Tendrils of mist slinked along the ground, shrouding the trees like pale and ancient serpents.

The wind began to rise, and its temperature drop.

In the north I would have taken the change in stride, but I was far to the south where the sun burned much hotter, and the night at best should have been balmy, not cold.

As the mist closed in and grew thick I lost sight of the path.

The map was now useless, and I was no sailor to navigate by moonlight and stars.

Celestial brightness dimmed as incoming ribbons of black clouds veiled the moons, now seeming like a woman’s eyes staring through black silk.

My attempts to find the path proved futile, and stumbling about in the dark could only prove fatal. Finding a gathering of stones, I made my peace with ceasing the journey and sat down to rest.

I stuck my knife in the ground and put my arms around my knees, making as small a target as I could, and tried to sleep.

***********

I heard a woman’s mellifluous voice.

‘Traveler?”

I opened my eyes and saw a vision of stunning loveliness.

‘Traveler, this is not a good place to stop.’

I looked into the face of a young girl with skin the color of sapling branches, her eyes the color of diamonds in the sun, the faintest of gold traces in them.

I rubbed at my eyes; looking at those shining irises took some effort. “I got lost.”

She gradually came into focus, but when I looked at her, I had to turn away. An ethereal light seemed to shine from her; the slim netting in her hair and small gems she wore flared in the shrouded moonlight.

“I was trying to find the path, but the mist…”

*Why is it so cold?*

“Ah. Yes, the mist. It is ever the mist.”

“What?”

“It disorients you.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s what happened. Can…can you help me?”

“Yes, traveler. I know the way.”

Relief flooded me. “I’ll follow you.”

“There is nothing to follow, traveler.”

“What? Can you take me to the path?”

She stepped closer. “I am the way out; you have to kiss me.”

I picked up my knife, and the cold shot up my arm so fast that I cried out and dropped it, looking at her in shocked anger.

Her eyes narrowed, her voice all the more menacing for the fact that it was low and quiet. “You will not threaten me in my home.”

“Your home?” The sense of being lost was stronger. “This forest is your home?”

“I am as much a part of it as the trees, the wolves, the soil; it is all here, in me.

“We…share each other.”

She had me at too many disadvantages. The cold was seeping through along with a mild panic.

“What must I do?”

“Kiss me.”

“Why”

“So that you might be on your way.”

“But…”

“What I say makes no sense to you?”

“Yes, I mean, no. I mean, yes, it makes no sense to me.”

Her eyes glinted as she smiled with amusement, as if they were connected.

“I can help you find your way, but you must kiss me first.”

Perhaps her embrace will warm you.

I took her in my arms, tilted her face to mine…

************

It snows here all the time.

The freezing wind blows all the time.

There are others trapped in here with me; I hear them stumbling about, footsteps crunching, but our voices are gone.

Only the perpetual blizzard makes its white noise.

The light inside her eyes has blinded us, but we can hear her lies.

Another traveler on another night; the mist has led him to her.

I hear his voice and scream at him to run, to kill her, but he can’t hear me.

No one hears.

Soon he’ll walk among us, never traveling again, trapped behind the prison of her eyes.